My School Days by Edith Nesbit

When I was small and teachable my mother was compelled to much travel and change of scene by the illness of my elder sister; and as she liked to have me more or less within reach, I changed schools as a place-hunter changes his politics.

The first school I went to was a Mrs. Arthur's -- at Brighton. I remember very little about the lessons, because I was only seven years old, but I remember -- to my inmost fibre I remember the play. There was a yard behind the house -- no garden and there I used to play with another small child whose name I have forgotten. But 1 know that she wore a Stuart plaid frock, and that I detested her.